The technology described herein relates to graphics processing systems and in particular to methods of and apparatus for taking account of the effect of shadows when rendering images for display.
The Applicants have previously proposed in their GB Patent Application GB-A-2525636 a technique for taking account of the effect of shadows when rendering images for output. In this technique, for each region of a frame being rendered, a set of geometry that could cast a shadow is determined, and then for each sampling position of a set of sampling positions for the region of the frame being rendered, a light source visibility parameter is determined using the determined set of geometry. The so-determined light source visibility parameters are then used, e.g., to modulate a light source when shading the geometry in the frame region to produce the effect of shadows in the frame region.
The Applicants believe that there remains scope for improvements to this technique that they have previously proposed for taking account of the effect of shadows when rendering images for output.
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